Lucas' Choice
by PuffofLogic
Summary: Lucas finds the watch Josie used to come back to their time...What will he do with it? Set directly after Conclusions, Spoilers most likely. Read, Review and Enjoy! This fic complete!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't not own Strange Days at Blake Holsey High. There I said it! Are you happy now:P

Lucas stepped into the, until recently, forbidden Science Office, his hands in his pockets. He walked slowly to the center of the room and looked around, remembering everything that had happened in that very room over the past few years.

Glancing through the windows, he saw Josie walking past with the Janitor. Lucas watched her without moving as she gradually traveled out of his visual range. He still couldn't believe she was back.

After all this time, an entire year, _she was back_. He had almost given up, but she'd made it back. Everyone else had researched and looked and theorized about where she'd gone, he'd done the same, but they'd slowly lost enthusiasm, believing her lost.

The night before Graduation, he'd finally disobeyed Professor Z and went into the office where he stood now.

A slight grin lit Lucas's face as he remembered Z lecturing him earlier. Josie's clone had stepped in and Z had gone slack jawed, it was all Lucas could do to keep from laughing aloud.

The grin faded as Lucas thought. Josie's clone. It'd had never felt right to call her anything but Josie, though it'd been confusing when they were together. He sighed, it had been awful to condemn her to stay in the alternate timeline. Necessary maybe, fair, never.

When she'd come out of the wormhole that morning, he'd hugged her, she hadn't hugged back, but when he looked at her face…it was difficult to explain. After a year, Josie had come back; only, it wasn't Josie…but it was, in a way.

He knew they were different people on the inside, but her eyes. There was a seriousness in them, a message…a picture…an emotion that said she'd seen more then her years.

When the real Josie came back, and he'd looked in her eyes, there were the same. That look. Josie had it too.

They were so similar, though it seemed few noticed it. The same determination, the same strength. Sure, the clone acted…colder then the real Josie, but Lucas suspected it was just an act. The way she'd looked at the Janitor before she left had conveyed more then a simple thanks.

Lucas sighed again and turned his gaze down. Something caught his eye and he walked closer to Professor Zachary's desk. There he saw the watch. His eyes widened as he realized Josie must've left it there after her fight with Avenir.

Lucas picked it up to examine it more thoroughly. He turned it over in his hand, thinking.

He'd known for a couple years that Josie wasn't interested in him. She'd been painfully frank with him a couple times and completely oblivious during others. He'd given up on her ever feeling the same way about him as he did about her.

Especially now that she was back in this timeline with Vaughn, Lucas sighed. He didn't have a chance.

He paused, the watch still in his hand. Josie's clone was so much like her, and she didn't dismiss him as Josie did so often. He shook his head, thinking he liked her just because she was like Josie.

He thought back to that morning. Josie's clone had come out of the wormhole and the feelings inside him, elation, relief, affection...Even after he knew it wasn't really Josie, all those feelings stayed.

_That had to mean something_, Lucas thought. He fingered the watch then started as the door opened behind him.

"Oh, Lucas. I didn't know you were in here." Professor Z said closing the door behind him. He walked over and looked out the window as Lucas did the same.

"It's hard to believe it's all over." Z said softly, referring to multiple things.

Lucas nodded in agreement. "School's over, Josie's back, Avenir is finished, and everyone's leaving."

Zachary heaved a sigh. "It's been fun."

"Most of the time."

Z gave a half smile and turned his gaze to Lucas who still stared out the window. After a moment, he lowered his eyes to Lucas's hands. His brow furrowed.

"Lucas? What were you doing with that?" He asked hesitantly, not pushing.

"What?" Lucas gathered his thoughts and looked at the watch. "Oh, nothing, nothing…"

Z looked at Lucas, with concern, reading his expression. "Lucas, you know that we couldn't have left Josie there, the fact that her clone had to stay in her place was inevitable. We couldn't do anything else."

Lucas looked up at him, eyes flashing. "We could've tried. We just gave up! We wait a whole year for Josie, but in five minutes we give up on _her_!" He looked away.

Lucas felt a hand on his shoulder and turned his gaze to met Z's.

"Lucas, I know it wasn't fair. Very few things in life are." He shrugged. "We haven't given up on her. We've bought some time. We needed Josie, the _real_ Josie, _here_. Now that everything is finished, we can work to bring her back."

Lucas looked back to the watch in his hand. "I could bring her back," he said, mostly to himself.

The grip on his shoulder tightened, the voice firmer, "Lucas, we can't just jump into this. You need to calm down and think this through. You—"

"Jumping in is what saved Josie!" Lucas interrupted, "Maybe if you'd let us go into your office in the first place, Josie wouldn't have been isolated for a _year_!"

The hand clenched, then drop off his shoulder.

There was a moment of silence. Lucas thought of saying, _I'm sorry Z, I didn't mean it_, but he _did_ mean it.

"…I know this has been hard…for all of us." Z said slowly, emotion quieting his voice. "I won't defend my actions in the past," His voice grew stronger, "but I also will not allow you to charge blindly into a new situation."

"I won't wait this time Z." Lucas said defiantly, definitely. He stepped back from Z and turned his attention to the watch. He had it set in a second. Josie, _Josie's clone,_ he corrected himself, had showed him how to do it before she left. _Almost as if she knew…_

Professor Z looked quickly up in a panic and moved to stop him. "Lucas, no!"

It was too late; Lucas vanished.

A/N: I made a deal with my buddy that this fic would be finished before Saturday of this week so the updates should be pretty quick. :D


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Chapter Two is up! Hopefully Chapter Three to follow soon, I might actually win this bet!

Lucas didn't notice the transition. One moment he was in the Science Office, arguing with Professor Z, and the next, he was alone in a dark, dirty, cluttered, empty room.

He looked around trying to get his bearings. A moment ago, this had seemed like the best option, now, in a completely different timeline, it seemed a little drastic. Lucas contemplated resetting the watch and returning to the world he knew, but two things stopped him. One was the thought of Professor Z asking him what he thought he had been doing, and the other stepped through the door behind him.

"Lucas? What are you doing here?"

He spun around and a smile lit his face as he forgot about his hesitance to stay a minute before.

"Josie! You're all right!"

"Of course I am." The clone said shortly. "Josie stayed here for a year; I could manage a few minutes."

Lucas paused, confused, "A few minutes? It's been _hours_ since you left."

Josie relied, "Time moves at a different speed here." She frowned. "You have to get back, if you stay here too long, people will worry, what seems like a couple minutes in this timeline, is in fact, hours in yours."

Lucas thought,_ If time is so slow here, how long did our Josie stay _here

Josie's clone broke into his reflection, "What are you doing here in the first place? The timeline _is _restored right? Avenir has been stopped?"

"Oh, yeah, yeah," Lucas reassured her before hesitating, "…I wasn't ready to give up on you." He lowered his gaze.

She pause, not sure how to respond. "Lucas…I choose to replace Josie here. In order to save the future, I have to stay."

Lucas shook his head. "No, there has to be another way, we didn't just forget about Josie, I won't just forget about you."

"You don't understand. The paradox, if I'm not here, this timeline would become corrupted, and potentially damage or even destroy the entire space-time continuum."

Lucas looked at her, sadness and denial in his eyes. Suddenly, he stopped and stared beyond her, realizing something, his brow furrowed as he looked for a loophole in his mind, then he jumped for the first one he saw.

"_Potential _damage?" He asked slyly.

Now it was Josie's turn to shake her head, "No Lucas, it's too risky."

He gazed at her, not moving, asking her with his eyes.

She sighed. "There is a chance that if I leave, this timeline will just collapse into itself. It would be like there never was this dimension."

Lucas's smile grew steadily bigger as she went on, Josie noticed and continued, "_But_ there is also a chance that, as I said before, the timeline destroys the space-time continuum."

The smile never wavered. "So…there is a distinct possibility that you wouldn't have to stay here?"

"…Technically?" She sighed again, "Yes. But it's very unlikely." Josie put a hand to her forehead, as if with the pain of a headache.

Lucas noticed, "Are you all right?"

She took her hand away and gave a small smile, "Yes, I'm fine, I just think it would be easier to work this through if He was here."

"The Janitor?"

Josie nodded. "And Professor Zachary had some wonderful theories about what happened to Josie." She cocked her head, "In fact, I think that, given enough time, Zachary could've deduced where she was, _and_ a way to get her back."

Lucas set the watch again and spoke without looking at her. "All right then, we need Z and the Janitor then you'll come back to my timeline with me?"

Josie shook her head in frustration, "No Lucas, we can't risk the Future just for mine."

"And mine," Lucas said under his breath as he continued to set the watch.

She paused, "Lucas! You're not listening to me!"

She stepped toward him.

It was too late; Lucas vanished

A/N:D I love it when Lucas just leaves, Chapter Three is being written, or hopefully already is by the time you read this! Read, Review and Enjoy!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: A little shorter this time, sorry it took a little longer then expected to get this one up. I did win the bet though! Woo: D Enjoy!

Professor Z ran to the spot Lucas had disappeared from a second before. After a moment, he ran a hand through his hair and leaned back against his desk. _Now what?_ He thought, _Lucas is in the alternate timeline and I have no way to contact him. _Zachary lowered his gaze to an indiscriminate point on the checkered floor.

After a short while, he raised his head suddenly and snapped his fingers. "The Janitor!"

Professor Z ran out of the building to find the casually dressed Janitor putting his bag in the back of Kelly's car.

"Janitor…Lucas…is in the…other timeline, I need…your help…" Z panted to the silent man.

Noel caught his breath and paused long enough to make a complete sentence. "Lucas took the watch and went to the alternate timeline to help the other Josie. How do we get him back?"

The Janitor looked at him, then at the suitcase in the trunk, then at the school. He sighed. He turned to Kelly and Josie, who'd heard it all. "I'll probably be a while."

Without another word, he took his bag out of the trunk and started inside.

Josie and her mother looked at Z who shrugged and jogged to catch up with the Janitor.

Josie started after him, but her mother grabbed her by the arm and shook her head firmly. Josie turned to argue, but saw Kelly's eyes and stopped. Her shoulders drooped and they got in the car and drove away.

0o0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0o0oo0o

Professor Zachary and the Janitor sat in the Science Office, scientific looking graphs and diagrams, notes covered the chalkboard, and two cups of coffee sat on the desk.

One cup was empty and the other was untouched. Noel had spent the night researching multiple theories on time travel and the connections of paradoxes on the space-time continuum, with little to no help from the Janitor.

More then a couple times, the silence had gotten to the professor and he'd attempted to start a conversation; it didn't amount to much.

As the sunlight started to lighten the room, Z looked at the Janitor in frustration, "How are we going to fix this? We've come to the conclusion that there's a slight chance that Josie may be able to come back to this timeline without destroying the multiverse, but it's a risk, Lucas may try to bring her back without knowing about the danger—"

"He knows, he'll be cautious."

"...Okay, let's just assume you're right, what do _we_ do about it?'

"We wait."

Z bowed his head to gather his remaining patience, before addressing the man again. "How long?"

"Long enough."

"How long is long enough?" Z burst out.

At that moment, Lucas appeared in the center of the room.

The Janitor stared knowingly at a stunned Professor Z.

A/N: Poor Professor Z! He's slightly confused... : P I'll update tomorrow, the fourth and final chapter! Woo! It's long...er then the ones before though so hopefully it'll be satifying! Read, Review and Enjoy!


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Oh the excitement! Last chapter and the action finally happens! Read on, read on:P

"Lucas! Finally! What did you do? What were you thinking? Is Josie all right? Are you all right?" Professor Z bombarded him with questions.

"I'm fine, Josie's fine, we need to talk to you and…" Lucas trailed off as he saw the Janitor. "And what do you mean 'Finally'? I've only been gone, like ten minutes."

"Lucas, you know time moves at a different rate, it's been hours!" Z frowned, "Did you figure out a way to get her back?"

Lucas grinned, "We think it's possible that she can come back to our timeline, without completely destroying everything."

"We've reached the same conclusion, but do you understand the risk involved? Do you grasp the concept of 'Everything' being completely and utterly annihilated, just because you rushed into it?" Z asked, softly.

Lucas paused, and shuddered. _Everything…_it was quite an idea to grasp, every human on earth, every animal, every single insect, and that was just on their planet, in their galaxy, in their timeline. To think that there were billions, trillions, an unimaginable amount of other timelines, other dimensions, and _all _of it being obliterated from this one action.

Z saw the look on his face and nodded, "It's starting to get through. We must be _absolutely sure_ that this will work the way we want it too. If we can't be sure, it's not worth it."

The Janitor nodded in agreement.

Lucas's temper flared slighting at the notion that Josie, 'wasn't worth it', but he understood. If it didn't work, Josie wouldn't be with him anyway.

"Okay, what do we do then?"

Z stood up and arranged the papers into neater piles before answering. "This is what we've theorized; once Josie leaves the timeline, it will fold and bend as it destabilizes. _If_ the dimension folds _in_ on itself, the rest of the multiverse will be fine, _but_ if the timeline bends _outward_ it will disrupt the normal flow of time and damage, possibly destroy, the other timelines in the multiverse. If we can grantee that the timeline folds _in_ then we can get Josie out, the only question is; How?"

Lucas looked at Professor Z in despair, his only hope was growing dimmer by the second, how could they possibly direct a timeline in on itself?

The Janitor stood up. "I may be of assistance."

Both Lucas and Z looked at him confused.

"I think it's time we pay Josie a visit."

Lucas reached for the watch, but stopped as the Janitor shook his head.

"We won't need that."

As Zachary and Lucas watched in amazement, Janitor drew his finger down through the air, leaving a bright orange strip of light.

Professor Z walked toward it, and reached out a hesitant finger. The moment he connected with it, he let out a short yell as he was pulled in.

The Janitor looked at Lucas and smiled crookedly. Lucas slowly walked to the strip and stepped in, rather then be pulled. The Janitor followed, stepping through then closing the strip as you would a tent zipper.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Z stumbled out of the strip into a dark room. He caught his balance as Lucas followed him through. The Janitor casually stepped through after and closed the strip.

Josie sat at a nearby table watching with interest.

Professor Z looked around, eyes light with excitement. "Amazing, absolutely amazing. Instantaneous, multidimensional transportation." He turned to the Janitor, "This is in our future?"

The Janitor nodded, not having the heart to say that it was not going to be in the Professor's lifetime.

A grin spread across his face, but it faded as he looked at the writing on the wall. "'Bye Blake Holsey'? 'R.I.P. 1879-1987'? What happened?"

Josie sighed, "The original Josie stole the ball from Victor, so Pearadyne never was, the explosion never happened and Sarah was never lost. It's hard to say exactly what happened to skew the timeline so much, but it had a lot to do with that."

"Incredible."

Lucas waved a hand to get his attention, "Professor Z! How are we going to...collapse the dimension into itself?"

The Janitor was silent as Z's brow furrowed, "Well, if the circumstances were different, I would say it's impossible. However, with his," he gestured to the Janitor, "…unique abilities, we may be able to do it." Professor Z looked at the Janitor again a frown on his face, the Janitor gave an almost imperceptible nod and Z's frown deepened.

After a moment, he continued more slowly, "Timing is going to be extremely important. I think that if, Lucas goes back to our timeline, then Josie, then I, and we leave…you," he gestured to the Janitor again, "to do what's needed, we should make it out all right."

Lucas grinned, and Josie followed suit.

"Well, are you ready now? No time like the present! …Or the past…" Lucas trailed off.

The Janitor nodded and once again drew his finger along the air, the light strip followed it and Lucas quickly stepped through. The Janitor gave Josie a smile and she stepped up to him and hugged him quickly before going through after Lucas. He looked surprised, but kept his stance.

Professor Z paused a moment before going through to address the Janitor. "Thank you…for everything. We couldn't have done this without you." Impulsively he grabbed the man's hand and shook it quickly.

The enigmatic man just gave a crooked smile and said, "I'm _just_ the Janitor."

Z nodded and stepped through.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

On the other side, they all waited cautiously, barely breathing as the seconds ticked by. The only light came from the slip, still visible, hanging in the air of the dark office.

Suddenly the slip engulfed the room in a brilliant white blast, and vanished.

No one spoke for a moment; they still waited for the Janitor to come through another portal.

When nothing happened, Lucas broke the silence. "Where is he?"

Z sighed, "He's gone."

Another silence.

"What do you mean gone?" It was Josie.

"In order to collapse the timeline, a massive amount of gravitational energy had to be spent." Z sighed again, deeper and his voice softened. "After releasing that much energy…he wouldn't have been able to transport himself to safety."

"So…he's really gone?"

Z nodded sadly.

Josie looked at him, angry tears in her eyes, "You knew it was going to happen!" She stopped and turned away, "_He_ knew it was going to happen…"

There was a moment of silence for the lost man.

"Well, at least you're back safe. He was a good guy, he stayed so you could come with me and no one would be hurt." Lucas tried to console her.

"She looked up at him and smiled through her tears, "Come with you?" She asked softly.

Lucas blushed, "That is, if you want to…You have no where else to go in this timeline, if I explained everything, my parents wouldn't mind, I'm sure."

"I might be able to help smooth things over," Z offered.

Josie smiled, "That sounds great."

A/N: PLEASE REVIEW this one! I really want to know what you thought. If you're angry at me for...getting rid of the Janitor, let me know! Whatever you have to say, I'm interested in! Thanks for reading!


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